[migf]

It has gotten simpler in recent years. For people who just have regular jobs and families, you probably just have a wages statement from your employer (w-2). Most taxes are taken out already at payroll time. You add up all your w-2's and report on how many children you have and based on that you can calculate your taxes.

The forms used to calculate this are quite complicated because they are designed to be very versatile. For instance, in years gone by you could reduce your taxable income by noting stuff like healthcare expenses, childcare expenses, home mortgage interest etc. This is all now covered (for most people) by a standard income exemption that everyone gets.

The forms have not been simplified to match.

[ghaff]

The 1040-EZ actually got dropped. I don't actually know the logic but I assume it was something along the lines of just use the 1040 and just fill out the relevant parts.